An unhinged Chris Matthews exploited another tragedy on Wednesday, connecting the pro-Second Amendment views of Ted Cruz and other Republicans to the shootings of two prosecutors in Texas. The Hardball anchor began by dredging up failed Senate candidate Sharron Angle's three-year-old reference to "Second Amendment remedies." Matthews connected, "If that was frightening enough for you, how about what's happening in Colorado and Texas?...In Texas, two prosecutors were killed, a third has now pulled out of a case against the Aryan brotherhood of Texas for, quote, 'security reasons.'"

Matthews made his linkage totally clear: "We've got a Texas senator, Ted Cruz, who won't let the Senate hold a democratic vote on gun safety. So, no democracy. We've got people out there using guns to get even with public officials, intimidating those they don't kill." Skipping from Angle, to the murder of prosecutors, to Ted Cruz, he snarled, "This is where we are with guns in this country. Second Amendment remedies being executed on public officials. Refusal by some elected officials to let us have a democratic vote on what to do about it." [MP3 audio here.]

As if sensing how some might find this connect-the-dots logic bizarre, Matthews insisted, "Think it's an overstatement? Well, there come times when overstatement becomes the truth out there."

Later in the program, the former Democratic staffer turned TV host returned to this subject, hyping, "This Second Amendment remedy is no longer the crazy talk of an odd duck Senate candidate out in Nevada, Second Amendment remedies are what you do when you don't like public officials. You shoot 'em! And that's what's going on now!"

The Hardball host has no problem with exploiting tragedies to trash conservatives. On March 18, he connected Senator Cruz to disturbed conspiracy theorists who believe the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.

Cruz is someone Matthews regularly smears. On February 14, he labeled the Republican the new "Joe McCarthy."

A partial transcript of the April 3 segment follows:

5:01 PM EDT:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me start tonight with this, where we are in this country with guns. Guns and the law. Three years ago, a Republican candidate for the Senate out in Nevada said we may need to resort to our Second Amendment remedies if we can't get public officials to do what we want. Second Amendment remedies, meaning use our guns guarded by the Second Amendment to deal with people in government we don't like. If that was frightening enough for you, how about what's happening in Colorado and Texas? In Colorado, a top prison official was gunned down in his home. In Texas, two prosecutors were killed, a third has now pulled out of a case against the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas for, quote, "security reasons."

So, we have people using guns to settle their disputes with public officials, using their Second Amendment remedies. Don't like the sound of this? Think it's an overstatement? Well, there come times when overstatement becomes the truth out there. We've got a Texas senator, Ted Cruz, who won't let the Senate hold a democratic vote on gun safety. So, no democracy. We've got people out there using guns to get even with public officials, intimidating those they don't kill. This is where we are with guns in this country. Second Amendment remedies being executed on public officials. Refusal by some elected officials to let us have a democratic vote on what to do about it. And this is where we live in April of 2013.

...

5:05

MATTHEWS: This Second Amendment remedy is no longer the crazy talk of an odd duck Senate candidate out in Nevada, Second Amendment remedies are what you do when you don't like public officials. You shoot 'em! And that's what's going on now!

-- Scott Whitlock is the senior news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.

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